Monday, June 9, 2008

Good enough, smart enough, but do people like him?

DFL Senate candidate Al Franken

Over the weekend, Al Franken was endorsed at the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor party convention as it's candidate to take on Republican Senator Norm Coleman in November. Franken, the former comedian, Saturday Night Live writer/performer and author, won fairly easily, with the only competition coming from college professor/activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

Even though Franken had been the heavy favorite to win the endorsement heading into the convention, his nomination wasn't without controversy. According to MinnPost, the DFL feminist caucus had some concerns over an essay Franken wrote for Playboy (it involves robot blowjobs) and some of his SNL material.

Though Franken was able to win their support, the Coleman campaign is going to hammer Franken with his past and try to paint him as a "Manhattan/Hollywood" outsider with little understanding of Midwestern values (which are pro human-blowjob for the most part.) But who will be the first candidate to mention Lateline?